"Those Great and good men are rare who in thought, word and deed are filled with the ambrosia of Punya and who by series of benefactions satisfy the three worlds, and who harness together even the little good qualities of others into the strength of a mountain and blossom in their own heart".

So said the Great Bhartruhari, speaking about great and good men.

This can aptly be said about our Great Jagadguru, who filled the pontifical seat of Kamakoti from 13th February 1907. His one great quality, a quality to which special reference has been made by Bhartruhari, is coming into contact with all kinds of people, but with a detached attitude, cultivating His appreciation of only the good qualities in them and associating with them only in connection with these. He is unmindful of any defects found in the individual and he is not critical of them. Having dedicated himself wholly with utter self-abnegation to the great and noble cause of the spiritual and moral uplift of our people and of the solution of the many evils which the society is suffering from, by His Great work of organisation, he has harnessed to the society effectively the qualities and virtues of the people with whom He comes into contact and inspired them to the strenuous work for which their qualities and talents fit them and thereby successfully reap the fruits of his organising ability in a remarkable way.

On account of His great qualities he has been able to do this during the these years by starting institutions and movements for the resuscitation of Veda Adhyayana, for the popularisation of our Agamas and for the revival of the purity of our Temple rituals, and the spread of our culture and Dharma. It is the prayer of everyone in our motherland that we should be blessed by for many, many years and we should have the benefit of His Spiritual illumination and grace.

When His Holiness was at Hagari near Bellary, we, a batch of devotees from Mumbai, had gone there to have His darshan. We had taken a cook with us who had prepared food for us and we had our lunch after His darshan and had again assembled before Him. At that time, two buses loaded with devotees from Andhra came for His darshan. His Holiness sent them all to our camp directing that food was waiting there for them. What a wonder! Just like the Akshaya Patra we have heard about in Mahabharata, there was food for these hundred and odd pilgrims and all of them had food the their heart's content. We had prepared food only for our group and for about a dozen more unexpected visitors. Yet after we had taken our food and we felt we could spare for about a dozen or so persons, Yet after we had taken our food and we felt we could spare for about a dozen or so persons, the visitors had, by His grace, their food. This was a lesson that Divine Grace will usher in good results.

A MUMBAI DEVOTEE